A Bay Ridge civic panel approved a controversial proposal for the Third Avenue “Summer Stroll” on Monday, but not because it would have been a boon for area businesses — it did it to show up the back-stabbing broads in “Brooklyn 11223” a show residents believe will give Bay Ridge a bad name.
“We’re going to show them this isn’t ‘Brooklyn 11223,’ ” said Chuck Otey, a member of the Third Avenue Merchants Association and longtime proponent for the Stroll, where Third Avenue between 81st and 89th streets will be transformed into an open air “piazza” four Fridays in a row starting July 20.
Otey said the Stroll will help Bay Ridge “take back the night” — as well as its reputation, since the intellectual atmosphere will deter anyone just out to get drunk.
“It’s going to be very arts-oriented,” Otey said, describing what he envisions for the piazza, which Community Board 10 approved with a 32–1 vote. “There’s going to be opera, there’s going to be Shakespeare, and there’s not going to be any funny stuff!”
And it’s not going to be any fun for Christie Maria Livoti and Joey Lynn Tekulve — two hot-to-trot 20-somethings who are at the center of the Oxygen Network show, where Bay Ridge gets the “Jersey Shore” treatment, Otey explained.
Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) and a group of mothers panned the show, which has yet to air, last week, claiming it wrongly portrays Bay Ridge and its residents.
Gentile said approving the Stroll will “send a message” to the Oxygen network.
“We know what Bay Ridge is like, but does the family in Montana or Nebraska or Utah know this is not accurate?” Gentile asked CB10 members. “We’ll see you out there for summer strolls.”
Yet not everyone is sold on the open air piazzas. Several residents believe the strolls would ramp up the number of area revelers that already smash bottles and urinate on their property after spending the night partying it up at local bars — behavior that Tekulve and Livoti may want to revel in.
The Merchants of Third Avenue initially wanted to close the avenue between 82nd and 92nd streets on nine Fridays, but tweaked the plan after local business owners rejected it.
Now, the piazza will be smaller and the side streets will be open to traffic with cops acting as crossing guards.
